antitrust

Apple remains intent on fighting the U.S. Justice Department's e-book antitrust lawsuit in court.

In a preliminary hearing before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan, an attorney for Apple reportedly reiterated the company's claim that it did nothing wrong.

"Our basic view is that we would like the case to be decided on the merits," Apple lawyer Daniel Floyd said, according to Reuters. "We believe that this is not an appropriate case against us and we would like to validate that."

The Justice Department's lawsuit, filed at the same time … Read more

Most companies finding themselves staring at the business end of a government cannon might consider it time to talk compromise. Apple is not most companies.

One day after the Department of Justice sued Apple and several book publishers for allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices, Apple publicly dismissed the government's claims as empty and false. Instead, Apple stayed with the script and described the 2010 launch of the iBookstore as a force for "innovation and competition," one that also helped break what it called "Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry."

"Since then … Read more

In case you missed it, the U.S. government recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five of this country's largest publishers, alleging they conspired to limit competition for the pricing of e-books. Three of the five -- HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster -- opted to settle the case, while Penguin, Macmillan, and Apple didn't.

So where does that leave us?

Well, if you've spent any time reading through the terms of the settlement, you quickly realize not everything's all that black and white and is in fact quite muddled. For starters, a judge … Read more

week in review Just weeks away from what's expected to be a historic Internet IPO, Facebook announced it had agreed to acquire the hugely popular photo-sharing smartphone app Instagram in a cash and stock deal valued at about $1 billion.

Facebook has made a slew of acquisitions to date, but nothing of this scale. Instagram is a 2-year-old startup that comes with some 33 million users and a growth rate that's the envy of Silicon Valley.

The key win for Facebook here is mobile engagement. The social network has had a mobile app for years, but it doesn'… Read more

After the cone of silence for the last few days, an Apple spokesperson commented on the antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against the company and several publishers. Peter Kafka of AllThingsD posted this statement from Apple's Tom Neumayr:

The DOJ's accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we've allowed developers to set … Read more

news analysis The U.S. Justice Department's legal pursuit of Apple for alleged e-book price fixing stretches the boundaries of antitrust law and is likely to end in defeat.

That's what happened in 1982, when an embarrassed Justice Department admitted its antitrust lawsuit against IBM was "without merit" and abandoned the case. And in 2001, a federal appeals court nixed the Justice Department's ambitious attempt to rewrite antitrust law by carving Microsoft into two separate companies.

"It's a harder case against Apple than the publishers," says Geoffrey Manne, who teaches antitrust law … Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed today that it has reached antitrust settlements for alleged e-book price fixing with three large publishers -- but said Apple has chosen to fight the charges in court.

Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference this morning (see video below) that the settlement will provide retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble the "freedom to reduce the prices of their e-book titles" in the future.

Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, and Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS, which publishes CNET) agreed to settle … Read more

In 2010, Apple enabled some of the top book publishers to set their own prices for electronic books they made available on the iPad.

Since then, prices that consumers pay for e-books have risen and Amazon and other online book sellers that discount have been under pressure. The government said today in an antitrust complaint filed in New York, that the arrangement Apple struck with publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster was an attempt to control prices and violated the law.

The case could hurt Apple's position in the e-book market, a sector that is growing … Read more

Scott Turow, the best-selling author and president of the Author's Guild, wants the Department of Justice to rethink its possible suit against Apple and five U.S. publishers for alleged price-fixing of e-books over fears that it could hand Amazon even more power over the publishing industry.

In an op-ed piece for Bloomberg, the "Presumed Innocent" author dubs Amazon "the Darth Vader of the literary world." And in an interview with CNET, Turow said he's worried that Amazon's tactics will unfairly undermine brick-and-mortar booksellers and ultimately the publishing industry.

"I don't … Read more